Two U.S. federal libraries and two federal librarians will be recognized by the Library of Congress Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) in a ceremony next week. The honorees were announced in a May 15 press release.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Research Library is singled out for its “leadership role in initiating new data services (including sophisticated data-discovery tools) and its rapidly growing data-reference service.”

The RAF Alconbury Base Library, 423d Force Support Squadron, U.S. Air Force, Huntingdon, England, is recognized for outstanding service in support of the base’s 38 education degrees offered by five accredited schools.

Joyce C. Greene, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, is FEDLINK’s 2012 Federal Librarian of the Year. Among her leadership achievements, Joyce “championed the development of a new Content Management Office, which has increased the center’s momentum toward organizational change, and developed a digital library and repository with six unique collections.”

Tiffany Hughey, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern Library, Landstuhl, Germany, is the 2012 Federal Library Technician of the Year. She “has seamlessly combined her professional technician skills with a thorough knowledge of Army policies and procedures, allowing her to improve programming and services in the garrison and in Army Europe Libraries.”

Congratulations to the award winnners! Your accomplishments demonstrate the great variety of  service and innovation happening in federal libraries.

Kevin Adams, Chair of and DGI liaison to SLA’s Online Content Advisory Board (OCAC), invites you to chat. From Kevin:

The next in the OCAC twitter talks is nearly upon us. So please see below the topics and instructions on how to join etc. I look forward to you joining us.

Please mark your calendars for our May 14th Twitter chat, and share with colleagues you collaborate with as well!

In this installment, we’ll discuss collaborating to achieve better results and greater impact:

1. In your experience, what are some skills or tricks of the trade for successful collaboration?
2. What online or in-person resources or technologies are key to successfully collaborating on a project?
3. How do you handle difficult, slacking, or reluctant to engage group members?
4. Without disclosing proprietary information, what were the outcomes of the most successful collaboration you’ve had?

When:
2 choices on Tuesday, May 14th:
Session #1 at 17:30 UTC <http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=1440>  (1:30 p.m. Eastern / 10:30 a.m. Pacific)
Great Britain/United Kingdom is one hour ahead of UTC during summer.

Session #2 at 03:00 UTC <http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=1440>  (11:00 p.m. Eastern / 8:00 p.m. Pacific)
[Wednesday, 15 May - 13:00 Canberra / 11:00 Perth / 08:30 New Delhi]

Full details: http://bit.ly/ZPrzte <http://bit.ly/ZPrzte>
We look forward to a great discussion!

New to Twitter or Twitter chats? Check out the instructions on How to #SLAtalk <http://www.sla.org/how-to-slatalk/>.

Every year, the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science in Washington, DC hosts the Elizabeth R. Stone lecture in memory of the former dean. DGI member Kathy Kelly kindly reported on the 2013 program for us. Thanks, Kathy!

UPDATE: Slides have been posted.

Submitted by Kathy Kelly:

Blane Dessy, Executive Director of the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) at the Library of Congress, focused attention on the impressive scope of the Federal government’s information ecosystem at the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) 23^rd annual Elizabeth W. Stone Lecture on April 5th.  The lecture, “The Federal Government’s Information Sphere & The Myth of Federal Information Policy,” was an invitation for attendees to explore the research potential of the hypothesis that the world’s largest  consumer/creator/manager/disseminator of information has no single information policy nor will there ever be one, since Federal policies have something other than information as their intention (e.g. national security).

But Blane also explored alternatives to a single information policy in the information realm such as law and directives, while lecture attendees pitched in with proposals about best practices in federal information management.

Blane proposed that Library and Information Science schools are an appropriate place for the type of research needed on public sector information – such as how much information originally created by the Federal government is bought from the private sector.  He also explored the formats, dissemination methods, synthesis/analysis services, and types of acquisition or original creation of Federal information which takes places via external sources and inter-agency processes.

Blane noted the range includes all branches of Government, all formats and security levels, all time periods of its existence, and everything acquired, created, synthesized, and all information and data disseminated internally and externally.

Attendees gave many specific examples of Government creation, purchasing, management, and dissemination of information, and ideas for how to better track it.

It’s exciting to see DGI member Naomi House featured in the Library Journal, in the 22 February article Nine Questions with Naomi House, founder of I Need A Library Job.

I Need A Library Job (INALJ.com) is a mega-site for library and archives job postings and resources in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. The site grew out of Naomi’s own job-hunting experience and is now her hobby and passion:

My hope was to help at least one person find a job and now we are nearing 800 success stories and those are just the people who shared their success with me. There are many more.

Naomi started out solo and now has 150 volunteers helping. Some other figures:

 I had 3,700 [subscribers] to the daily email which transitioned to the INALJ Jobs pages in 2013. I have nearly 800 subscribers to the blog, and I will reach 1 million page views in the next month or two. In 2012 fans from 151 countries visited INALJ.com.

But this is just what she does in her spare time. Naomi has a full-time day job as a federal librarian, a job she found on a listserv.

In response to a petition filed on the White House We the People site, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday released a policy memorandum (PDF) supporting free public access to the results of federally-funded research. The policy mandates that, within six months, “each Federal agency with over $100 million in annual conduct of research and development expenditures…develop a [draft] plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government.” Of particular interest to librarians and other information professionals, required features of the draft agency plans include “a strategy for improving the public’s ability to locate and access digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research” and “an approach for optimizing search, archival, and dissemination features that encourages innovation in accessibility and interoperability, while ensuring long-term stewardship of the results of federally funded research.”

Meanwhile, legislation recently introduced in Congress (H.R. 708) calls on federal agencies “to develop public access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency.” The bill is commonly called the FASTR bill, short for “Fair Access to Science and Technology Research.”

Open access expert Peter Suber succinctly describes the key differences between the White House policy and the legislation–and explains why he welcomes both–in his Google+ post Second shoe drops: new White House Directive mandates OA.

While the bill may or may not pass, the directive is already in force. How will this affect your work? Let us know in the comments.

News from the U.S. Government Printing Office:

As part of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the U.S. Department of Treasury pilot project to provide permanent public access to the Treasury Library’s digital content, the Official Register of the United States is now available on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) at <www.fdsys.gov <http://www.fdsys.gov> >. The Official Register of the United States: 1829, 1835-1837, 1841-1861; 1879-1891, 1895-1907, 1911-1921, 1925-1926, 1929-1934, 1936-1959, contains information about the Federal workforce, including the name of every employee, their job title, state or country of birth, the location of their post, and their annual salary.

Three additional historical U.S. Government information titles will be released in Fiscal Year 2013. These titles are:

*  An Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of the United States: 1793; 1797; 1805-06; 1808-09; 1812-1828; 1830-1890. This publication documents detailed statements of receipts and expenditures of the U.S. Government appropriations, including balances of the current and previous fiscal years, payments during the year, sums carried to surplus funds, and balances unexpended at the end of the year.

*  Combined Statement of the Receipts and Expenditures of the United States: 1872-1983, which contains fiscal year receipts and expenditures of the Government by appropriations.

*  Internal Revenue Cumulative Bulletins: 1919-2008. This is a consolidation of all items of permanent nature published in the Internal Revenue Bulletins (IRB). IRBs are the authoritative instrument of announcing official rulings and procedures of the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Decisions, Executive Orders, Tax Conventions, legislation, court decisions, and other items of general interest.

David Shumaker, professor at Catholic University of America’s School of Library and Information Science, has announced a new survey of federal government librarians on alternative and traditional career paths. Here are highlights of the announcement:

The Alternative and Traditional Careers for Librarians and Information Professionals Survey is now available!

…

We are seeking input from anyone working for a Federal government agency in any role, either as a contractor or a Federal employee, who has a background in library and information science. It is designed both for those in traditional library organizations and job classifications, and those in nontraditional career paths.

The survey has 20 questions and should take about 10 minutes to complete. By participating, and encouraging others to participate, you’ll be helping to show the variety of ways that librarians are contributing to our Federal Government, in both alternative career paths and traditional library services.

…

If you have questions about this research, please contact David Shumaker, Clinical Associate Professor, Catholic University of America, at shumaker@cua.edu or 202-319-5551.

Marie Kaddell of LexisNexis has just released Best Practices for Government Libraries 2012: Pushing Boundaries:  Mobility, Community, Accessibility [PDF]. Marie, 2012 Past Chair of SLA/DGI, edits the annual compilation of content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. On her Government Info Pro blog, Marie reports “the 2012 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 75 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, LexisNexis Consultants, and more.”

Contributions cover benchmarking, career planning, international work, open government, public libraries, public records, records management, and social media.

Articles and guides contributed by DGI members include:

• Pushing Boundaries: From Collections to Service, by James King, Information Architect, National Institutes of Health Library
• An Online Community Is Born: NIC’s National Jail Exchange, by Connie Clem, Managing Editor, National Jail Exchange, Principal, Clem Information Strategies
• Gaining Management Skills through Professional Association Leadership, by Kim Schultz, Marketing Research Analyst, Affinion Loyalty Group
• Reaching Out to Tribal College and University Libraries: A Project to
  Provide Interior Library Resources and Services, by George Franchois, Director, U.S. Department of the Interior Library
• Planning for the Worst: Disaster Preparedness and Response in Federal Libraries, by Aileen M. J. Marshall, MA, MLIS, Reference Librarian at the U.S. Department of Transportation

An e-book edition of Best Practices is in the works.

Canadian federal government libraries have been facing serious cutbacks in 2012, and some federal government agency libraries have been closed. For background, see our May 2012 post, Major cuts for Canada’s federal libraries.

A 10 August 2012 article from Canada’s iPolitics, Closing doors on Canada’s history, provides an update and arguments in defense of the libraries:

To date, the Immigration and Refugee Board, Transport Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Public Service Commission, National capital Commission and Canadian International Development Agency libraries have been closed. Other libraries, such as those at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada are scheduled for imminent closure. In still others, staffs are being drastically cut. …

The government has also been slowly and stealthily wrecking Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the flagship of Canada’s heritage keepers. At LAC, over thirty archivists’ and librarians’ positions are being axed, which in turn is leading to a reduction in programs, one involving the acquisition of new archival holdings. …

Since interlibrary loans will be completely eliminated by February 2013, readers wishing to consult books found only on LAC shelves will have to consult them on site at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. And those who can go to Library and Archives Canada will find that hours and services have been drastically cut.

Comments and additional information from Canadian members of DGI are welcomed.

The Library Journal recently featured an article on the NewFeds, a group of librarians and information science professionals beginning federal government careers. LJ’s 8 August 2012 article New Feds Working Group Supports Librarians in Government describes the group:

New Feds has more than 100 members across the United States and some international members as well, including some at military bases, [co-founder Jessica] Hernandez said. The organization is a working group of FEDLINK, the Federal Library and Information Network, which is a part of the U.S. Library of Congress. …

Blane Dessy, the New Feds mentor and executive director of FEDLINK, has been providing strategic support to New Feds, and called it an “amazing group.” He said he has been impressed by the ways they use new technology, the creative approaches they bring to their work, and the new perspective they bring to federal libraries. “It’s so exciting to see that much talent and enthusiasm in this group of young librarians,” he said. “That is very infectious, so they are a good role model for others in our organization.”

Congrats to NewFeds and co-founders Aimee Babcock-Ellis and Jessica Hernandez on the coverage! DGI was fortunate to have NewFeds Leia Dickerson and Tanya Whippie speak at the division’s annual meeting at SLA Chicago this year.

Follow NewFeds at http://newfedsinfo.wordpress.com/ .

NewFeds: You’re all invited to expand your networking world with the SLA Government Information Division. Join us!